The Lebanon express. (Lebanon, Linn County, Or.) 1887-1898, 1887-04-09
In IMMINENT PERIL.

~ hNk&sh ~ n
The warm tropical moon threw its
rays down upon the sleeping hdcieRdd,
or country-place of Senior Don Pablo
Maria Gomez. The long line of white
buildings, enclosing within them the
patio or courtyard. where the air was
heavy with the scent of the orange
blossoms aud fragrant with the subtle
odor of the lines had in the moonlight
a strange weird look. rs though they
We're not real.
The house itself was of but one story.
and covered wide expanse of ground.
Butt of stone, its windows. with their
wooden bars. made IL look something
like a goal; and its severe outlines and
sharp right angles gave little hint of the
wealth and luxury within. For Don
Pablo was rich beyond almost the dream
of avarice.
He did not himself know the extent
of his wealth. Lying there in the
moonlight, about thousand yards
from the great house. were rows Of
palm-huts, heavily matched. aud in
these were the sleeping slaves His
great-grandfather had received the
grant from the king of Spain. and with
it an allotment of indians, which prac-
tlcally covered all that the Hldalgo
could capture. His sou, Don Pablo's
grandfather. had been among the fore
most to urge the Importance of negroes.
and had added largely TO the labor
force of the Esmeralda ranch.
Well fed aud well treated. the slaves
had increased until Don Pablo had now
no very distinct idea of how many he
did own. In point of fact just as they
one miles long by thirty wide--which
he had never seen. SO there were men
owned by him that ne had never spoken
TO.
But il Don Pablo did not know all,
his daughter and only child. Donna
Carmen, knew most of them.
Mounted upon one of her horses, and
attended by her peon, old Juan. she
rode here aud there over the place, aud
knew almost every corner of it.
To say she was almost worshipped by
the people" is not TO overstate the
thing i'm the least.
Were any OF them sick. Donna Car
men would give them medicine; were
anv ia trouble. to Donna Carmen they
would go for comfort; it would be diff
cult indeed to say how many little
CaTnIens had been named after her.
When then. Don Pablo invited Don
Louis Medina. a third cousin of his to
come To the ranch for visit when his
daughter returned for the last time from
the convent of Our Lady of Mercy,
where SHE had been educated, all the
women on the place rejoiced; for did
they not know that their senorita had
been bcIroihed 10 Don Louis ever since
she was ten years old, and was not Don
Louis as handsome and gallant young
fellow as YOU could meetP Most assured
ly he was.
The older men, however. were not so
well satisfied, holding. rs they did. that
Don Louis might be. and probably
was. all very we'll; but he was not, in
their opinion, worthy of Donna Car
men. The strongest believer in this
view was old Juan. who had looked af-
ter his young mistress from the time she
was little baby. and who worshipped
the ground she trod on.
However. as Juan would have felt the
same, no matter who came To WOO. this
was, perhaps, 10 be expected. To tell
the truth. Don Pablo himself felt some
what the same way. and therefore. list
ened with great patience to old Juan's $
grumbling.
+ But it was summertime for the young
people. Riding out in the cool morn
ing. spending the hot noon on the wide
/ piazza, lazily reclining in that universal
hammock of the Spanish race, filling
up the evening with music. with merry
talk. and JOYOUS laughter, the days
went swiftly by.
/ Don Pablo would listen to the two.
happy i'll his daughters happiness, and
recalling q now and then, as he watched
them. the days when he went to see his
Merced,ss-she who died aftc a brief
4 two wears of welded life, and left void
in her husbands heart, which had never
/ been filled. And now his Carmen was
/ going to leave him; was thinking more
of her future husband than of her faith
er. as that father believed. Is it any
wonder that Don Pablo was not offend
ed with old Juan?
| The moon went down, and you could
family see in the darkness some dusky
| figures stealing towards the house. A
dozen of them, all small, looking more
| like boys than men. Gathering around
one of the windows. they worked at
something in silence.
By-and-by the wooded bars were
taken out, and some of them stole into
| the room without sound.
A noise like cry cut short broke on
the ear, and then two figures passed
through the window, taken by the
watchers outside, and then the whole
party disappeared as silently as they
had come.
Don Pablo and his guest sat at early
coffee next morning, wondering greatly
why Donna Carmen did not come. Call
4 I. l.